Blast from the Past

Title: Funiculi, Funicula

Performer: Luciano Pavarotti + chorus

Instrumentation: full western classical orchestra, soloist and chorus

Culture or Origin: Italy

Connection: I recently completed my interview with my Nonni regarding Italian music. When I was with her she pulled out a big stack of CDs that she had collected over the years. One of the collections had 4 CDs in it. It included Folk Songs, Mandolin Music and Music from Italy. This song was on one of the CDs. My Nonni also pulled out a couple of Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli CDs. These artists are more mainstream but still sing the Italian songs with a certain finesse  After I was reacquainted with Luciano Pavarotti and the Funiculi, Funicula song, I was hit with a childhood memory. I remembered dancing around my living room with family while this song was playing through the CD player during a parties.

I bring up this story because during the interview with my Nonni she talked about how her family would always dance every night. Her brother would play the accordion and her sisters would dance and they would sing together.

I also have other memories of my family singing this song when holding babies. They would bounce the baby on their knee and sing this song to them. They would also sing or chant to the baby in Italian.

How does this connect? One of the first couple readings we had was about helping our students discover and retain their own cultures. Yes, we will teach them Western Classical music and concepts. However, it is just as important to help them connect back to their roots. These memories made me smile and be proud of my heritage. I am glad that there are still music, food, and Italian cultural tradition in my family.

It's All in the Beat

Title: Balinese gamelan song

Performer: street musicians in Bali

Instrumentation: idiophones, flutes, reeded aerophones, jaw harps, metallophones

Culture or Origin: Balinese culture.

Connection: I chose to pick some Balinese gamelan music because I am reading the cultural context guide for Bali and I find it very interesting. In Javanese, gamelan translates to 'musical ensemble'. During a class discussion a few weeks back we talked about different cultures tuning systems and how some preferred to have 'beats'. I find this extremely fascinating because in our Western Classical culture we strive so hard to eliminate this. During rehearsals this past week we worked a lot on tuning between the upper woodwind players in symphony band. I couldn't help but really listen to the beats and the musical purpose that they have in other cultures. They were interesting to listen to and recognize briefly before they were gone.

I bring this up because many people would consider this music as headache provoking. Our other Balinese CD track: Kotekan norot has similar elements to the one above. I think it would be an interesting experiment in the classroom to have students try and play as out of tune as possible in an ensemble setting to get them really aware of the beats. They can experiment with the width of the waves. I find my self playing with beats when practicing with the tuning CD. It's very interesting and a great learning experience. In order to play 'in tune' in the Western Classical sense, I think its important to understand beats and how to make them slow and fast and the differences between beats when different timbres and tone colors are added.

Transmission

Title:
Tarantella- Sicilian Folk Song

Performer: Unknown- probably people from Mt. Altesina

Instrumentation: Accordian, guitar, tambourine, drums

Culture or Origin: This is a Tarantella dance from Italy, more specifically: Sicily.

Connection:
I chose to share this Italian video because I had recently been to my grandmother's house this past weekend and she was talking about Italy and shared some of the music and dance from when she lived there as a young girl. The Nettl readings this week placed heavy emphasis on how music is transmitted and how one becomes master of music in many different countries. I picked the Italian tarantella because there are many different versions of it. Each one is similar yet completely different. The tempo is always fast because the whole premise of the dance is about a person who has been bitten by a wolf spider and needs to engage in a frenzy dance in order to prevent death from the disease. The tunes and melodies are different in each tarantella one can find. However, the instrumentation stays pretty consistent from tarantella to tarantella.

Many folk songs are passed down orally from person to person. From the reading, it is interesting to think about how one song can change into many variants and versions depending on the culture and instrumentation of people. If we were to perform the tarantella in the classroom from what we hear from different versions of the song and perform it on different instruments while changing some of the tunes, wouldn't that also be considered a variant? The history of the song, which Nettl talked about it chapter 27 is changed. It started off as one thing and ended as another, while keeping some aspects of the original.

Pitch Centers

Title:

Raga Jaunpuri - alap

Performer:

Brigitte Menon

Culture or Origin: This is an Indian Raga. It is thought that is sometimes takes years for performers to really understand and connect with what they are playing.

Orchestration: sitar

Connection:

           This weeks readings talked a lot pitch and the differences of pitch in different cultures and country's music. Pitches are not always fixed when setting it. This is what you find a lot with sitars. A lot of times music styles from different traditions often dictate where the pitch placement is going to be. In Western Classical music I think we are so used to fixed tuning to A 440 that we really don't get a chance to be exposed and try many other tunings and pitch variants. In many Arab and Indian music you hear the oriental scale. They use the augmented second. Also when you listen to the above example you can hear the pitch bends and pitch functions talked about in the chapter. Specific pitches were given more importance in a set.
            I think it's really interesting to learn about the traditions and customs of other people's cultures. We have our own traditions with the traditional Western Classical orchestra set up. Our instruments are fixed and we follow a fixed set of pitches. To be able to experience some of the other systems and methods would be beneficial and interesting especially as educators.

One Step at a Time...

Title:
Irish Step Dancing River Dance

Performers:
Nicola Byrne and Alan Kenefick and other dancers

Culture or Origin:
This is a step dance from Ireland. Step Dances are considered virtuosic solo dances based on the hornpipe, reel and jig. The dancer's foot movement create percussive patterns on the floor

Orchestration:
Fiddles. Concertina. The dancers created the percussive like sounds. Guitar rhythm section and high strings creating chords.

Connection:
I chose to talk about this video not only because Ireland is my country for the final unit, but also because it ties into what we discussed in class. During class, we discussed the different models of authenticity. I believed that the historical and the personal model was one of the best. It's not only important to understand music's background and history but have it connect and be meaningful to the student so they can find their own individual connection. A lot of Irish music does this perfectly. Much of their music is for dancing. It is a means of expression for the individual and also a way to socialize with people around them.

In middle/high school I had a few good friends that took step dancing and did competitions. This could be a perfect segue to introduce Irish music in the classroom especially if there are students participating in it. In both the Koops and Abril reading,  they talked about music combining with other subjects. There should be a lot more cross-curricular references. This could be a perfect opportunity to tie together a history class with music and dancers in the school system.

Western Classical in a Worldly Sense

Title:

Radetzky March, Op. 228 

Performers:

China Central Chinese Orchestra 

Conductor:

Chen Xie Yang 

Culture or Origin:

Western Classical Origin. It was composed by Johann Strauss Sr. 

Orchestration:

Chinese String, Woodwind, and Percussion Instruments. 

Chinese subsitutions for the Western classical instruments are used,

including the Erhu as the 1st Violin section in Western Classical music.

Connection:

Immediately, when I found this performance on YouTube I couldn't help but think about our discussion during our last class. We talked about accurately depicting world music in performances and in our classrooms. In our readings, the authors discussed how changing elements of a piece can turn it into a completely new piece. In this video, the China Central Chinese Orchestra takes a Western Classical piece and uses Chinese stringed, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments instead of the typical Western classical counterparts. Couldn't one argue that they are in fact changing the piece? The timbre, tone and textures are very different compared to how Strauss originally imagined it as. As a result, does this make it lose its elements that makes the piece Western Classical. In Thinking Musically there is a whole chapter dedicated to instruments. A lot of times the instrument and style is what makes a culture's music unique. To change that in a performance setting changes the entire game. On the other hand, sometimes schools or individuals wouldn't have the means to play the piece on the correct instrument that it was written for. There would have to be accommodations. This isn't the case for the group depicted in the video.